Read Online Idler (Norseton Wolves Book 3) by Holley Trent - Free Book Online

Looked like turkey and cheese. No lettuce, no tomato—no so-called “rabbit food . ”
    She didn’t even know what the man liked to eat. They had yet to sit down at the same table. Even when they were both in the kitchen at the same time—perhaps her on her laptop and him having a quick meal—he’d eat at the counter, turned away from her.
    They may have been mates, but they certainly weren’t acting like they were married. She knew couples like them. They only ever interacted by choice when the woman was fertile and her mate couldn’t resist her. That period had come and gone. Colt had stared at her a hell of a lot, and the bulge in his pants indicated that he was raring to go, but he’d kept his hands to himself—and his words, too.
    That had been just fine for her a month ago. Now, she was becoming increasingly annoyed by it. He was not only ignoring her , but suppressing his basest notions, too. That took a lot of willpower.
    “Not sure how you got him to shut up,” Vic said, “but you should be canonized for it.”
    Colt ground his teeth and stared at his sandwich.
    “Eventually, we all run out of things to say,” Anton said. He turned his wrist over and brought his watch up to his good eye. A patch covered his blind one. Apparently, he’d lost his vision in a nasty fight not too long before the mates arrived. “The new hires we’re supposed to shadow are due at the gates in about twenty minutes. We should head that way.”
    “Are they going to be living here?” Lisa asked.
    “Yeah, but in temporary housing for the moment. Up there.” He pointed to a two-story building on the corner, next to the coffee shop. There must have been apartments on the second floor. “They’re on probation for the next three months, and after that, we can look into giving them a little more space.”
    “Are they wolves?”
    “Nah,” Vic said. “There are a few wolves we would hire, but we haven’t been able to make anything happen. One of Christina’s brothers is a sharpshooter. We made him an offer. Discreetly, of course. We’re just waiting for it to catch up to him.”
    “Where is he?”
    Colt balled up his sandwich wrapper and tossed it into the nearby trashcan. “Got kicked out of his pack before turning eighteen just like all of us, and is roaming around on his own, likely looking for anyone to give a fuck about him.” He took off at a brisk pace down the sidewalk and didn’t look back.
    Lisa started to follow. They needed to go ahead and get their discussion—or argument—out of the way. Anton got in front of her and put up his hands, as if to calm her, but she wasn’t upset. Not yet, anyway . “Move, Anton.”
    “Just listen, will you? We’re all sensitive about being ousted. Some of us more than others, and we all show it in different ways. We’ve been a crew for a long time, and he’s never brought it up. If that’s what he’s working through right now, don’t ride his ass about it.”
    Was that it? Had she said something to churn up old memories? If she’d made him feel unnecessary somehow, she’d have to work extra hard to disabuse him of the notion.
    Vic joined them. “I agree. Trust me, I by far prefer the Colt who puts his head down and works without all the infuriating commentary than the one who thinks talking shit is an underutilized form of affection. But we all have to work through this garbage. We can’t keep dragging it from one generation to the next and taking out how pissed we are about what happened to us on other people’s kids.”
    “You won’t send your own children away, will you?” Lisa asked. “Has anyone had that conversation yet?” She hated the idea of sending her strong sons away, should she and Colt ever have any, almost as much as she hated the wolf treatment of girls.
    “What do you think, Lisa? My father is our alpha, and I’m still here. Any one of the guys could be an alpha somewhere, and Dad knew that when he scooped them up.”
    “You guys